Transforming the landscape of web design, Microsoft today introduced Copilot in Power Pages, an AI-driven assistant that aims to simplify website creation. Available in preview for U.S. customers, this innovative tool revolutionizes the website-building process, turning it into a more seamless and user-friendly experience.
Guided by user prompts, Copilot can autonomously generate text, design forms, create chatbots, and construct web page layouts. It can even produce and modify image and site design themes. For instance, users merely need to describe the type of form required, and Copilot will craft it, auto-generating the necessary back-end database tables that can later be edited or modified using natural language.
Sangya Singh, VP of Power Pages at Microsoft, explains the benefits of Copilot: "You describe what you need in natural language, and Copilot offers suggestions for designing web pages, creating content, and building complex business data forms for your website. No longer do you need to start from a blank slate."
AI-driven website generation isn't new, but Copilot stands out due to its versatility. It can seamlessly transition from no code (natural language descriptions) to low code (editing website design and layouts) to pro code (building advanced customization). The ability to enable an AI assistant to construct business data-centric sites using natural language is unprecedented.
Microsoft has incorporated 'guardrails' into Copilot to mitigate any risks that might emerge from generative AI's misuse. The company has developed mechanisms to process and filter offensive content before presenting suggestions to the user.
Notably, Power Pages users can also insert a chatbot powered by GPT-3.5 into their websites, equipped with similar safeguards. Singh clarifies that Copilot is not an 'automatic' AI-pilot but an 'AI assistant', which provides suggestions to users who retain complete control over their website creation process. This transformative tool aims to make website creation a more accessible and intuitive experience.
